The present technique relates generally to medical diagnostic systems, such as medical imaging systems. In particular, the present technique provides a system and method for dynamic configuration of distributed medical diagnostic systems.
Existing medical diagnostic systems, such as medical imaging systems, use complex distributed architecture with multiple subsystems residing at different locations and on separate hardware platforms and separate operating systems. The configuration of subsystems within this distributed architecture is a complex procedure in which one or more of the subsystem components must have a configuration database with detailed information on all system components, which must be communicated to the appropriate subsystem component at a specific time. The foregoing configuration procedure causes performance bottlenecks, creates errors due to mismatches of duplicated application data on multiple subsystems, and precludes modification of the various system components.
For example, the existing system configures a medical diagnostic system for a desired application by exchanging system properties and data between multiple subsystems using application-specific information residing on one of the subsystems. Unfortunately, the foregoing configuration procedure increases the application setup time, because the application-specific information is not readily available at each component. Moreover, the existing configuration system is not scalable, because all of the involved components must be designed specifically for each application or the components must be configured for a specific application using configuration files and data from other components. The rigid characteristics of the existing configuration system generally preclude modification of the system configuration, particularly during runtime. The foregoing system is also ill suited for systems employing several different applications, such as Record Fixed and Record AEC applications of Digital Subtraction Angiography.
Accordingly, a technique is needed to facilitate dynamic configuration of multi-component systems, such as embedded or distributed medical systems. A need also exists for a flexible configuration system, which facilitates system modifications and execution at runtime.